Under The Weather
by Karianasan
Summary: I was playing around and came up with this cute little bit of fluff. Cute Velma/Fred Fluff. For all those unloved Frelma fans. I hope you enjoy! FV
1. Being Sick

Sickness- [sik-nis �noun 1. a particular disease or malady.  
2. the state or an instance of being sick; illness.  
3. nausea; queasiness. 4. A defective or unsound condition.

Illness (sometimes referred to as ill-health) can be defined as a state of poor health. The mode of being healthy includes, as defined by the World Health Organization, " ... a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"

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Reading the definition did little to make Velma feel any better. It just made her feel worse. So bad that she was at the point that she was reading the dictionary to try to take her mind off of the feelings inside of her.

Upset stomach, dizziness, stuffiness and the such were her problems. And this darn little sniffle that wouldn't go away no matter how many tissues she had been using. Even though she had a waste basket nearby her bed, it was not big enough to contain her growing mound of tissues that grew out of the depth of the trash bin and erupted out of it like a run away volcano.

"Achoo!" She squeaked and then grumbled. On many occasions she had been told she had a cute sneeze, but hearing it so often recently it was getting on her nerves no matter how 'adorable' it might sound to others.

"Achoo Achoo Achoo!"

Another round sounded off as she brought up yet another tissue to her face to try to contain it all. The poor tissue gave it's all, but still couldn't hold up to her attack. The fallen solder joined it's companions in the waste basket as Velma discarded it and went for another one. Hitting bottom, her searching grew frantic as she knew she would not do well with no tissues nearby.

"Need something?"

Calling in a soft voice from the door, Fred was standing with another box in his hand. Velma moved to get up, but Fred quickly crossed her room to push her down and hand over the box.

"You are supposed to stay in bed." He chided her. She struggled a bit against his hand but didn't have the energy to fight him and just snapped up the box in a huff. Grumpily ripping off the top of the box, she scrambled her fingers to draw out another soft Kleenex to catch another round of sneezes. Pulling the top a bunch came after the one she claimed and drifted about the box. Had she not been in such a unhappy mood she might have cared more, or moved to organize them.

"Heh, you sound so cute." Fred smiled, as she shot him a look of daggers. He got up and moved out of the way of her weak willed swat. She just wasn't feeling up to snuff to be able to aim right, not that she wanted to hurt him anyway.

"Man, you must not be feeling good, you missed." He apparently noticed too.

"Mrrr..." Velma huffed and grumbled. He was being far to cheery for her to be able to withstand too much at once. It was like when you just wake up and then are exposed to a bright and shiny morning sun. It was almost as bad to make her want to roll over and hide from his chipper attitude.

She sniffled and felled two more tissues before she noticed he hadn't moved. He was just standing there, watching her as she was adding to her growing pile of diseased ridden tissues into an over flowing bin.

"Yes?"

"Hm?" Fred seemed un-effected by her questionable tone. Almost happily oblivious that she was sick and he was taking a risk just being near her room let along in there just standing around.

"Are you waiting for something?" She was starting to get annoyed. She wouldn't mind him just standing around normally, but not feeling good made her a bit grouchy and she also didn't want him getting sick.

"Nope. Why?" He asked almost to innocently, a smile on his face. Though it was a soft smile, not really anything behind it beside a grin towards her.

"...Stop looking at me." She turned away and bit her tongue. She really didn't wanted to snap at him, but she really wasn't feeling good. He wasn't doing anything wrong, but his level look was making her feel off and on display for some reason. He seemed to drop his smile and his brows moved together in concern. He started to move close to her when he was close enough to hear her muffled voice through the tissue.

"... Sorry."

"Hm? Sorry for what?" He asked.

"Sorry for being snippy." She admitted, a bit louder then her previous smothered apology through the Kleenex.

"Nah, don't worry about it, I know sometimes when people get sick they don't feel well and say things they might not really mean." He said sitting down at the edge of the bed. Reaching out his hands graced her forehead. She was burning up and his brows nearly crossed in worry.

"You really should lay back and rest." He told her with care in his voice. With her head that hot she needed to rest as much as she could. "Let me get more blankets."

Raising to his feet, he disappeared before she could even complain. She only managed to flutter the tissue she had in one hand in his general direction before he as gone from the room.

Suddenly the room felt a lot emptier and quiet. Even though they had not been doing much, Velma felt uncomfortably alone as she lay there straining to wait for him to come back. Agonizingly silent second passed before the padding of his socked feet returned as he shuffled along carrying a bunch of blankets. He was quick to start piling them on. The first blanket was ok, maroon in color and rather pleasant once added to her own blanket. The second blanket she was happy was laying more on top, since it was rather scratchy in the fibers.

And the last blanket she had to stifle a chuckle. It was one of Fred's favorite blankets, an old 1983 He-man blanket that was decorated with mostly white color and heads of the various characters with respecting logo for 'Masters of the Universe' above He-man and the others had their names around them. It was very clean for a blanket that was rather old and well used. Maybe that was why Fred had liked it so much, since it was rather soft and comfortable.

With great care, he put all of the blankets upon her and promptly buried her under all the coverlets. True, she knew that a way to break a fever is to use a lot of blankets but she didn't feel all that hot to herself. Was she? Bringing up a hand to her forehead she found that she might feel warm, but that wasn't to bad.

Gently taking her hand, his felt a lot cooler then her own. Maybe she was hotter then she thought.

"Nuu nuu... Put that back under there." He tucked her arm back into the blanket mass and proceeded to pin her down into the bed. "You should rest and get some sleep. Once that fever breaks maybe then you can do more reading."

He held up the dictionary she had claimed before. He wiggled it for emphasis and patted the top of the bed.

"Sleep well you. I'll see you when you get up." Moving away from the bed, he gave her a little wave before leaving the room with her dictionary.

"Hey... You took my Dictionary..." She muttered and tried to move. Though Fred had stuffed the blankets in such a way into the bed that she was thoroughly pinned to the bed. Well, with her lack of energy and Fred's skillful tucking he must have learned form his military uncle, she wasn't going anywhere. Sleep was as good of an option she was going to get now.

Settling into a more relaxed position under the covers, she took a deep breath in and caught a whiff of something that smelled rather nice. It was a 'Fred Smell' coming off of his blankie. The kind of natural smell certain people had that was subtle enough to not be anything possibly offensive, but oddly had a calming effect on certain people. Breathing the smell in, she found it wasn't all that bad. Sighing, she shifted a little and fell asleep with the smell of Fred accompanying her to blissful slumber away from her being sick. 


	2. Awake and a Little Better

She wasn't sure what time she woke up. The room had the curtains drawn together and hid any hint of sunlight that might give away that it was still day. Not that she could see too well without her glasses on...

Her glasses? Where were they?

Wiggling, Velma found that she was still pinned. As much as she struggled, she found that she was not having to much luck getting out. Darn Fred and his skill in bed making.

"Oh, good. Your up." Came the culprit's voice. She tried to look about to find where his voice was coming from but with both her glasses off and the blankets blocking her view she was unsuccessful.

"A little help?" She said with a huff as she heaved against the blankets. "... I think I'm doing better enough to sit up and get my glasses... Where ever they are?"

"Oh, sorry. I noticed that you nodded off and still had them on. So I took them off and placed them on your dresser. Let me get them for you."

Shuffling sounds came from where he was walking about her room. The sounds he was making seemed different from last time, she noticed as she stared at the ceiling waiting. He must have been wearing his slippers this time, instead of socks. Which would account for the change in sounds.

"Here." He offered the glasses over the hump of the four blankets and it wavered in front of her face. Wiggling her arms, she tried to weasel a hand up her body and around the gap she had worked by her neck. With barely a wrist out, she managed to take the glasses and place them on her face. Though it was not with consequences, as a rather large thumb print was now annoyingly adorning the middle of her right side glass of the glasses. Sometimes smudges just in the right place on a pair of glasses could make the wearer equally blind, or at least distracted.

"Now if you could rescue me from these blankets Clark, I can get back to the Daily Planet and get some work done." For some reason she felt like calling him Clark Kent. Maybe since he was being as dense as Superman acted sometimes around Lois when she could use a hand for something simple... Though Superman never pinned Lois under a mess of blankets for being sick, or at least that was not a comic Velma had ever gotten her hands on.

Fred laughed and moved to help. He peeled the blankets off one by one, tugging at the edges he had tucked under with a grunt.

"You right, these were on tight. Sorry." He chuckled embarrassed for overdoing it. Though she had stayed in bed and rested. So it worked. "... Though if I was Clark, wouldn't I have the black rimmed glasses?"

Wiggling herself finally free, she felt alot better to breath easier. The weight from the blankets was sometimes nice and comforting, but she felt sticky from sweating the fever out. Ugh, definitely time to change, or at least into new pajamas.

"... Ha Ha." She said sarcastically. "Though if you had these, you would be as blind as I am with them off."

Grabbing the glasses off, she quickly remedied the finger print. Smudges on her glasses when she could help cleaning them off, annoyed her. There was nothing more distracting. Especially those situations like a mystery and she couldn't see everything clearly anyway since it would most likely be a dank cave, or a run down old mansion. A few puffs into the glasses, she then brought it to the edge of her shirt and wiped it clean.

"There." She nodded as clarity returned to her as she put on the cleaned glasses. " Much better."

The the glasses place on, she noticed Fred was now leaning in rather close to her, squinting and looking at her. Since her hand was done fiddling, he was able to shoot up his own hand and place it on her forehead.

"It's a bit better, but it seems like that fever wants to hand on tight. You're still banned to bed duty, missy." With that he backed up and sagely nodded.

"..." She shot him a look. "...Missy?" Fred only grinned in response.

"Hungry?" Fred dodged her question and blocked it with a smile. Velma was about to say something when her stomach responded on it's own. Letting off a fierce growl, it reminded her of those sound effects they used for movie dinosaurs. One in particular came to mind, a ghost dinosaur named Kent Pearl.

"Ah, so it seems, I'll be right back with just what you need." Zipping off, Velma wasn't able to catch him. Yet again, unable to stop him before he did something he wanted to do. She sighed. She wasn't sure why he kept doing things like this for her. She was worried he was going to catch a cold as well. Though... Maybe if he did and she got better, she would then be able to take care of him in return. Though she would not forget to taunt him back for the various things he's already done to her. So as much as she might feel bad, revenge was best served... Soupy?

As her mind was plotting her revenge, Fred had returned quickly with a bowl of soup. It seemed that he had it on reserve, just in case she woke up. That or it was some leftover from Shaggy's crock pot he tended to use on occasion. But either way, it smelled really good. Good enough that she tossed away her thoughts and went straight for the bowl hungrily. But Fred pulled the bowl away just before her hands could reach it.

"Uh uh ah. You need to take it easy." She glared, angry that he would dare take her meal away, but she was instead greeted by a hovering spoon with some delicious smelling food. She peered past the spoon and looked at Fred. He was smiling again, a gentle smile, and nodding towards the spoon.

"Open up for the airplane!"

Velma blushed and couldn't believe he was resorting to the childish tactics to make her eat slowly. It was true she wanted to just dig in, but it would probably upset her stomach is she ate too fast. But two could play this game. Going against her protesting stomach, she turned her head away and pressed her lips closed. She murmured through the pressed lips her 'uh uh' refusal. But Fred apparently was ready for it. Bringing up his hand to his mouth, he make a sound like a crackling speaker.

"This is Space Shuttle Atlantis, we have just had a long flight and wanted to dock with Mir. I repeat, this is Space Shuttle Atlantis and we are prepared to board. This is the 100th launch that NASA flew into space, and also the first time docking occurred to Mir. We have the Mir-19 crew waiting and ready to join Mir. Opening the docking bay, ready the Kristall module!"

Velma had to smile, it had been one of the flights she had taken interest in, so she resigned herself and opened her mouth to let the soup pour into her mouth. It tasted... Heavenly. As most things do as you don't eat for a while, or being sick. It was just what she needed right now; a nice, simple, hot meal.

"Hmm..." She sighed contently. Though she peeked open one eye and then looked at Fred. "Does that mean I just ate Anatoly Solovyev?"

"Hm, best not to think about it. Here comes STS-74, with the Russian-built Docking Module (DM)." With another spoon full of soup, Fred offered it to Velma who gobbled it off the spoon. She couldn't deny anymore that she was hungry. So she would put up with Fred's spoon feeding.

"Mmmm... Canadian Maple candy."

"What?" Fred looked at her as she sighed again with the hot food settling her stomach more. It made her feel alot better to get something inside of her.

"In November 1995, the crew that installed the Russian Docking Mechanism also brought over some things from home. Like a second Guitar, and Canadian maple sugar candies."

"Ahh, ok." He shook his head. But he felt better she was doing her usual techno babble. It meant she was feeling better. Feeding her a few more bites, he pulled back.

"You should get some more rest."

"But but but..." Velma flailed, not wanting to give up the meal she was eating. It was true she was feeling a bit more full now, but she could eat more! She felt childish in her motions, but she didn't care. She was sick and she wanted to have her soup and eat it too. She shot him a pout; hoping her sniffing, and watery eyes behind her glasses could be enough to convince him to come back and give her more. It looked like he hesitated for a second, before he shook his head.

"The dark powers are strong with this one. But I shall not bend."

Turning away he disappeared and put away the soup. Velma still wanted more, but maybe it was for the best. Her stomach was still urpy, so she didn't want to push it. She had to thank Fred when he came back. Leaning back, she snuggled herself into the blankets till he came back. Pulling up the comforter, she settled into the pillow and waited. Though as the food settled into her stomach, she started to get sleepy.

"Got... to... hold on... Sleeeeeepy..."

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By the time Fred returned from putting her food away, Velma had fallen asleep. He smiled and moved to pull the blankets to cover her the rest of the way. Leaning over, he gave her a light kiss upon her forehead.

"Sleep well."


	3. Road to Recovery

A devilish glint flashed in her eyes as she got ready to make her move. She had been very cautious in her delivery and had gotten him just where she wanted him. She had caught him off guard and backed him into a corner. Her eyes danced as she watched him, helpless in front of her. Like a cat playing with a mouse. She had been pulling his strings and manipulating him where she wanted. There was no stopping her now. She had him pinned, and there was no escaping her.

She had him now...

"E... 3!" Velma yelled out in triumph!

"Aw man, you sunk my battleship... You win." Fred sounded more disappointed then he actually was. She was looking better, and with her competitive spirit it should help her along on the way to recovery. Since she had woken up, she had convinced him that she was well enough to play a a game or four. She had been going stir crazy stuck under the blankets and needed to move around a bit, even if it was only to sit on the floor and play some games. She had pleaded so much, and used her pouting lips to her advantage, Fred had to relent. She was just to cute when she pouted. Plus, he couldn't keep her in bed forever.

"Well... You sunk my battle ship, Trapped by mouse, kicked my butt in Operation and also some how ruled over all of Risk from Australia... I think you have officially kicked my butt in board games."

Fred said with a grin. He did like winning now and again, but it was more important to have her get better. Plucking the little bits, he started to put away the various pieces of the game. Pegs of white and red were plucked and put in their proper place. He worked on it for a while before he looked up and noticed her glaring at him.

"You... Let me win!" She gave him a good punch on the shoulder. He winced, but was happy she was getting her energy back. Though he really didn't want to take another one of those. She hits hard!

"What?" He asked her innocently, trying to be ready just in case she tired to hit him again. She scowled and took the battleship board from him. He hadn't been fast enough to be able to take enough of the pegs off to hide his earlier, evil deeds.

"Here, here and here." You could have easily figured out that after this hit, my ship was in that direction. But in fact you chose to attack somewhere else. I know you're more clever then that." She said glaring at him, annoyed.

"But you were still winning..." He tried to plead even though she had found him out. She had been, he was just helping her a tiny bit just in case.

"I'd rather win or lose on my own skill rather then be let to win, even if I'm sick. I wanna rematch!" She grumbled. Even her stubbornness was in the act, so she was recovering nicely Fred thought.

"No." He said simply, a smile on his face.

"Alright! Wait.. what no? Your not allowed to say 'no'. I thought I'm the sick one around here." She pouted and narrowed her eyes at him. She was sick after all, he was supposed to let her be selfish and have things she would not normally ask for.

"You might be feeling better, but you still need your rest. You've been up long enough playing games and kicking my butt. You should lay down for a bit. Doctor Fred's orders." Fred said with a nod, starting to organize the mess of boxes and stack them in piles. Velma wanted to complain, but she could only be so selfish before she knew her limit. He was only looking after her health, he wasn't trying to be a stick in the mud on purpose. So she had to give in and head back to her bed as he cleaned up.

Pushing up off the floor, she made an attempt to get up. Though with being sick and trying too fast, too soon, she got hit by a dizzy spell.

"Wah." She called out as her footing gave out under her and she started to tip back towards the floor. Flinching, she cursed herself inwardly for not being more careful and clenched her eyes closed to wait for the impact with the floor. It was her own fault for getting up to fast.

But the floor never came.

"Good thing your light, or that would have been bad." Fred murmured. She didn't feel herself falling anymore, as the wave of dizziness left her and she could then feel Fred's arms supporting her weight. She was too disorientated to make a snappy come back about her weight, but instead blushed. She felt so silly, being unable to even stop herself from falling over from a head rush. But Fred didn't seem to mind, or even notice the blush.

"Hup!"

Shifting his her weight, he went from holding her up on her own feet, to carrying her in his arms. Not that this was even remotely the first time he had held her, but usually there was more then just her alone in his arms. Though it kinda felt nice, since he was warm. She occationally had chills from being sick, and right now he was a comfortable temperature. But her pride held her back, but her mind played with the idea of curling into his chest and just falling asleep there. She had always felt safe around him, part of it being his strong aura of responsibility and leadership... But there was more then just that. Like him taking care of her this whole time, he usually looked out for her normally as well. Not just when shew as sick. She offered no resistance as he guided her to her bed better then her own feet could and laid her gently down upon it. He had to juggled her a bit to be able to shove the blankets out of the way to fit her on the bed. He muttered a bit about going a tad bit overboard, but it had helped bring down her fever.

His fingered felt cold against her head. Fred's brows gave away his worry as she watched his face as he looked at her.

"Yeah, best that you should rest. We don't wan that fever coming back. You feel a bit warm still, so better get you all tucked into the blankies." She chucked as he had called them 'blankies'. Not a blanket, coverlet or anything like that. Blankies. And with a serious tone too, none of that overly cutesy voice people sometimes use to talk to cute animals or sick kids.

his face looked soft as he leaned over her and pulled the balnkets gently up and laid them one by one on top of her. When he was done, he muttered a soft apology as he took her glasses from her face. His touch was so light, as he took away her sight and replaced the world in blurriness. It was always disconcerning for the brainiac to look the clarity of the world, but she would be asleep soon anyway... If she could fall asleep.

"Sleep well." He spoke softly as he gave her warm forehead a friendly kiss. She watched as the blob of colors she knew to be Fred started to turn away. Her heart flickered for a second, though she wasn't sure if it was out of fear or something else. Reaching out, she shot her hand from the blankets and managed to grab his hand before he got to far away.

She blushed, she didn't know that she would slid her hand exactly into his. She had only hoped to grab some part of him to prevent him from leaving. Well, it did work. He stopped and gave the hand a reassuring squeeze as he turned back to face her. She blushed more. She didn't really have a reason behind stopping him, well beside the fact that she really didn't want to be alone yet.

"Can you..." She stuttered, unsure what she _did_ in fact want.

"Hm?" His voice fluttered to her ears, his hand still surrounding hers. As he had not let go, but instead turned to face her and wait till she had spoken.

"Well, if you don't mind... I just wanted..." She stammered, mind racing against the dizziness creeping back in her head.

"You're going to laugh..." She couldn't believe she was going to ask it, but she kinda wanted to ask anyway, even if he would laugh.

"... Can you tell me a bedtime story?" She finally was able to whisper out, having to face a bit away from the unfocused blob of Fred beyond her vision. But it was almost as if she could sense him smiling. And the second hand squeeze helped as well. Moving towards her, he continued to hold her hand, though he shifted his grip from one hand to the other so he could sit on the edge of the bed.

"Hm... I'm a bit rusty, but how about this one?"

Velma couldn't believe it. One, for her even thinking about such an idea, or the fact that he was going to actually tell her one.

"Once upon a time, there was a young girl from an inventors family. Though she was very small, she was also very smart. Traveling to the big town, the little girls father had brought her family to a new place. But it was scary to the young girl. She was so smart, she was placed in a higher level in the school among the older kids. The other kids made fun of her, since her family were new and strange to the people who lived in the town."

"... And the young girl was really sad when she would come home... I know this story, kinda." Velma said with some faint recollection.

"Oh, you remember me telling you this. I'm surprised, you were little back then." Fred had once told this story to Velma when they were younger. The words might not be all the same, but he recalled the most of it anyway. "Well, I'm going to tell you again, since I can't think of any other story right now."

"That's ok, I want to hear it again." She said with a smile, leaning back into the pillow behind her. Relaxing, she listened with a earnest ear, hoping that she wouldn't fall asleep on him.

"Heh. Ok, where was I? Ah, yeah. Once upon a time, there was a young girl from an inventors family..."

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Fred spent a while telling Velma the story from long ago. He even continued telling her after she had nodded off into dreamland. His eyes never left her as he held her hand lightly in his own. He had a good feeling that she would be back to her old self in the morning, and he was looking forward to it. As his story came to it's happy ending, he finished and leaned over to give another tender kiss upon her forward before tucking her hand under the blankets.

"Sleep well, Velma. For tomorrow is another day." He turned and started out the door before the idea popped into his head.

"Knowing her, I bet she'll want a re-match. Heh, only this time she won't have an handicap."


End file.
